Today, the Center for Union Facts notes the irony of three major union organizations in the “Change to Win” coalition being embroiled in labor disputes — with each other. The Teamsters-organized staff of Canada’s United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union went on strike to protest the UFCW’s proposed use of a two-tiered system in which new employees receive significantly less in wages and benefits than veteran employees.

Ironically, the UFCW organized a strike against Stater Bros., a Southern California grocery chain, when the store implemented a similar seniority system. At that time, UFCW spokesman Mike Shimpock argued, “The two-tier system has resulted in massive turnover,” he said. “The markets can’t keep workers. They have to keep training them and they are running out of places to find them.” Now, the UFCW argues that the two-tiered system is necessary in order to serve its own members.  Article